Thorns and Roses
by AisuGirl
Summary: When Shadow dies, what will happen when Amy meets his little brother? And when Shadow returns to life, what will become of Cory and Amy's relationship?
1. Before

The forest near Amy's house in Station Square...

"Oh, Sonic.." Amy sighed, looking up into the forest. A whirring sound above her made her look up. Tails dropped down into the forest next to her. The three years on him showed, as they did on Amy.

"Hey Amy! Did you get today's newspaper?" Tails asked, taking out a newspaper splattered with pictures of Sonic.

"No, what's it say?" Amy took the newspaper and began reading. SONIC THE HEDGEHOG SAVES THE DAY AGAIN, it read. Amy sighed. She'd read that same headline over a million times. But something at the bottom caught her eye. SONIC'S SIDEKICK, SHADOW, KILLED BY ROBOTNIK ROBOTS.

"Can you imagine what Shadow would have said, him being Sonic's sidekick?" Tails said. Amy laughed, but felt sad that Shadow had died. He always made her laugh when he had taken her to the cafe after chasing Sonic, saying he wasn't worth it and saying how he was a faker.

"So, Sonic's holding a party to celebrate him defeating Eggman...again." Tails laughed. Amy smiled and said she'd come, then started walking home.

-----------------------------------The party Amy's pov----------------------------------------------------------------

"hey, Ames, you made!" Sonic walked over to me. I smiled and went over to Rouge and Cream.

"Hey, Amy! Did you hear about Shadow?" Rouge asked. I smiled. Rouge had stolen a lot of Shadow's stuff, and had probably taken a lot more once he had died.

"Yeah. So what's up with Knuckles?" I teased. Rouge turned a bright red, and Cream started giggling.

"Well, Knuxie Wuxie moved in!" Rouge said.

"I told you to stop calling me that!" Knuckles yelled.

"Sorry, Knuxie Wuxie!" Rouge teased.

"So what college did you get into, Rouge?" I asked. me, Rouge, Sonic, Knuckles, Tails, Silver, Blaze, and Espio had all graduated from high school, and most of us were applying to the same college.

"Same as you. BSU." Rouge answered.

"That's great, Rouge!" I hugged my friend. Cream, Cosmo, and Charmy were still in high school, but they would be in college with us in a few years.

5 years later....

"Okay class, we have a new student. Please welcome Cory." The Computer teacher waved in a black hedgehog with red streaks. I barely looked up from my computer. We often got a new student this time of year and it was just another face in the hall.

"Wow, Amy, doesn't he look like Shadow?" Royge asked from her seat next to me. I just sighed. There had been a lot of faces like Shadow's, but this one did look a lot like him...

"Amy Rose, you will show Cory around." The teacher announced. I groaned and walked over to the new student when the bell rang.

"I can find my own way around." Cory said tonelessly. I stopped, but not because of what he had said, but because he sounded so much like...

"Uh, did you ever know, uh, Shadow?" I asked, taking a gamble.

"He was my brother. Heck of an idiot he was too, going off and trying to save the world. You knew him?" Cory looked up at me.

"He...he was a good friend of mine. It was really sad when he died." I answered.

"Well, it was pretty stupid of him to think he could stop those robots." Cory replied, walking out of class.

---------------The next day---------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Hey, Rose, I need to find room 215." A familiar toneless voice behind me said. I spun around and saw Cory holding a schedule.

"I thought you could find your own way." I spun back around.

"I see why my brother talked about you so much, you've obviously got an attitude." Cory walked up beside me.

"I do not have an attitude!" I glared at him.

"One that reminds me of my brother." Cory smiled at me. I just glared at him, but noticed that he looked a lot like Shadow when he smiled...

"Fine, I'm heading over there too." I said, and led Cory to the class.


	2. Meeting Cory

-----------------------------------A couple of days later--------------------------------------------------------------

It turned out Cory and me had a bunch of classes together. Somehow we got stuck as Bio partners, though. Cory just said that he'd do all the work, which totally got me mad, but I couldn't stop noticing how much Cory looked like Shadow... Except his streaks were blue. And he never called Shadow Shadow. Just 'my brother'.

"Your getting behind." Cory said, as usual, tonelessly. He was looking over my shoulder at her Biology homework.

"Why do you care?" I asked flatly.

"Because if your grade goes down, then it counts for the both of us." Cory explained, grabbing my pencil and writing some notes.

"And that's all?" I said angrily. I got angrier when I noticed I blushed when Cory grabbed my pencil.

"Well, if you need help in Biology, then I can easily fix that." Cory got up and walked over to the teacher.

When the bell rang, the teacher called me over. "Miss Rose, due to your falling grade, I've selected a tutor for you. Mister Cory has generously offered." I glanced at Cory who was smirking.

"Why'd you volunteer to tutor me?" I demanded as we headed to History.

"Let's just say it's a favor to my brother. Come to dorm 27 after lunch." Cory walked into the class.

"He's so...annoying!" I muttered to myself. I looked over at Cory, who was three desks ahead, and got furious when I found myself blushing.

--------------------------------------Cory's dorm, Cory's POV-------------------------------------------

"Come in." I said when someone knocked at the door. I put down my comic as Amy Rose walked in, looking determinedly blank. Fortunately, I could read people almost better than my brother, so i could tell she was still wondering why I had decided to tutor her.

"I'm not telling you why I owe my brother. Take out your biology books." I said.

"I wasn't going to ask why you owe Shadow!" Rose blinked, surprised. It was definitely what she was going to ask me.

"Good, because if you're going to bring up your Biology grade, you're gonna need a lot of work." I jumped down from the bed and walked over to the desk.

"Hey, Cory! I need the answers to the history test!" Sonic walked in. I glanced at Rose and saw that she was refusing to look at Sonic.

"I told you a million times, study." I glared at him as Knuckles walked in.

"Hey Amy, what are you doing here?" He asked.

"I'm tutoring her in Biology." I explained.

"Well I need tutoring in History!" Sonic yelled. "Or I'm gonna fail the test!"

"Then study, idiot." I rolled my eyes and started showing Rose the notes she missed.

---------------------------The next day, Biology, Amy's Pov----------------------------------------

"I totally do not understand this!" I sighed, looking at the homework.

"It's simple." Cory grabbed her pencil and started writing some notes down. I got angrier when I realized I was blushing. I think he noticed too.

"I suck at biology!" I groaned. Cory laughed and wrote some more notes down. When I had told Rouge about the whole Cory/blushing thing, she said the most impossible thing.

"You love him." Rouge had said simply, to which I had stuttered like an idiot and protested. I DO NOT love Cory. We're friends, sorta, since he started helping me with Biology, but he's still an idiot sometimes.

"Now do you get it?" Cory asked, shaking me out of my thoughts. I looked down at the notes he had written and surprisingly understood them. I nodded and grabbed my pencil, writing some of the answers in.

"Okay class, put down your pencils." Mrs. Lion said ominously.

"Well, we know what that means." Cory smirked at me. "Time for a Little Lecture."

"Good thing I brought my iPod." I grabbed her ear phones and stuck them in my ears. I could just barely hear Mrs. Lion over the music, but I wasn't paying attention-much.

"Okay, class, as part of the curriculum, you will be taking care of a chao with your desk partner." Mrs. Lion pulled out some chao eggs.

"What does that have to do with Biology?" I pulled out her earphones as Mrs. Lion started handing out the eggs.

"Well, this should be fun." Cory grabbed the egg and looked at it. It was black with red spots."You get egg duty first."

"Why me?" I asked. "And what should we name it?"

"Because I've got a ton of homework. Name it whatever you like." Cory replied.

"How about Shadow?" I asked. Cory looked at me strangely for a second and shrugged.

"You said you owed Shadow a favor why not name the chao after him?" I continued.

"And if it's a girl?" Cory asked, using the voice I had heard Shadow use on the ARK(Sonic adventure 2 tie in!).

"Then we'll name it Shandra!" I smiled really big at him, unconcerned about his ominous tone.


	3. Feelings?

-----------------------The girl's dorm, after Amy's tutoring session--------------------------------------------

"Amy and Cory are parents!" Rouge sang. Cream inspected the egg, while I did my homework.

"It's just a biology project." I protested.

"Well, let's conduct a biology project of our own!" Rouge slipped off her bed.

"I don't like the sound of that..." I muttered. Rouge grabbed a blank notebook just as a crack appeared in the egg.

"Yay, it's hatching!" Cream squealed.

"Move over, I wanna see Amy and Cory's kid!" Rouge teased, looking at the egg.

"It's just a Biology project!" I yelled, moving over to the egg. Slowly, a black chao with red hands and feet pushed its way out of the shell and looked at us with bleary eyes. He was irresistibly cute!

"Aaaaw!He's got your eyes!" Rouge smiled.

-------------------------------------------Biology, the next day, Cory's POV-----------------------------------------------------------

"Isn't he the cutest thing?" Rose asked as she brought Shadow to the table. I looked at his black and red fur and was reminded again of my older brother. I knew Rose was wondering why i owed him, but that was a long story.

"I suppose..." I replied. Rose grabbed some chao fruit from her bag and set it in front of the chao.

"Should we make it a Dark chao, a Hero chao, or a neutral chao?" She looked at me.

"I think my brother would like his namesake to be a hero chao." I grumbled. Rose nodded and grabbed one of the fruit.

"All right class, since most of your chaos have hatched, I am going to tell you the next part of the assignment." Mrs. Lion walked inside.

"Inside this box..." Mrs. Lion pulled out a couple of boxes. "Are a whole bunch of chao power ups. Your job is to find the power ups, give them to your chao, and, by the end of semester, have raised a unique chao, which you can keep!"

"Oh, this is going to be so fun!" Rose said. I rolled my eyes and started on my history homework.

-----------------After classes, still Cory's POV--------------------------------------------------------------------

"Come on, Cory!" Rose grabbed my hand and dragged me to the lake.

"What are we doing here?" I asked, looking at Shadow, who was sitting on Rose's shoulder and watching everything around him.

"We're looking for powerups, of course! Look, there's Cream and Cosmo!" Rose raced over to the plant and rabbit girls who sat behind us.

"Come on, Cory! Cream said there are bunch of Flight power ups over here!" Rose grabbed my hand and dragged me over to a cliff.

"See? Can you get those?" Rose pointed to a bunch of yellow rods on a step in the cliff. Easy. I jumped up and grabbed them.

"Shouldn't we teach him how to swim before he learns to fly?" I asked. It seemed logical, and apparently Rose agreed. She grabbed my hand again and we walked over to the lake.

"Guys, can you help us?" The rabbit girl, Cream, ran over to us and pointed below the water. I saw a bunch of blueish rods floating around. Obviously those two couldn't swim.

"Sure!" Rose agreed enthusiastically. "Cory, can you get us some?" I rolled my eyes, nodded, and dived inside.

"Thank you Cory!" The plant girl, Cosmo, I remembered, said when I surfaced, holding about thirty rods.

"Oh, Cosmo, look at Chocola!(Sonic Heroes Tie-in!)" Cream pointed at their brown chao, who was swimming, slowly, into the middle of the lake.

"Do you want to swim, Shadow?" Rose grinned at the little chao, who was quickly swallowing the rods. When he had finished, he looked up at Rose, and ran over to the edge of the lake and jumped in. He swam slow but steadily over to Chocola.

"Aaaaaaw! The three girls gushed. I rolled my eyes and walked over to a tree and finished my homework while the girls gossiped.

"Cors, watch out!" A familiar, and annoying, voice called. A red chao with green stripes blundered into me, knocking one of my notebooks into the lake. Sonic the faker arrive, panting, a second later. Knuckles Echidna followed him, looking decidely angry.

"Sonic, I told you not to let Junior out!" Echidna yelled. The red chao, who must be Junior, was wading in the shallow water.

"Well, Sonic Jr. needed some fresh air!" Faker yelled.

"It's Knuckles Jr., idiot, and he got fresh air through the stupid window!" Echidna yelled back.

"Sonic, Knuckles, your chao!" Rose pointed at Junior. He had swum a little farther out and was trying to keep afloat-unsuccessfully.

"Sonic Junior!" Faker stepped close to the water but wouldn't go any farther. Echidna pushed Faker in, and he started drowning quicker than Junior.

"Rose, watch out!" I cried as Rose slipped into the water. She couldn't swim, I remembered. Apparently I was the only one there who could swim. I jumped into the water and swam out to the chao, and threw him into the shallow water. Then I swam over to Rose and pulled her up to Cream and Cosmo, who dragged her onto the rock. Then I pushed the faker into the shallower water.

"Cory, I think Amy's unconscious!" Cream called. As I ran over to them, Shadow swam over, sensing Rose was hurt.

"Rose wake up!" I shook her lightly. Her eyes stayed close.

"Don't you know CPR?!" Cream asked as Faker and Echidna ran over.

"Who the hell teaches CPR anymore!" I yelled back, but tried what I had half paid attention to in Health and Safety. Rose blinked her eyes and sat up slowly.

"What-What happened?" She asked drowsily. I sighed with relief. Cosmo laughed and told her what had happened. Rose apparently found it funny.


	4. Shadow

---------------------------------Amy's POV----------------------------------------------------------------------

After the drowning, me, Sonic, Knuckles, Cory, Cream, and Cosmo all got out some food and had a nice picnic next to the lake. The three chaos (four if you count Cheese) flew around our heads, chattering, and snagging some of the food. Shadow stole an apple and nearly choked on it, but we all laughed at him. Sonic and Knuckles spent most of the lunch arguing over what to name their chao(Knuckles Jr. or Sonic Jr.).

"Uh, guys, what's that sound?" Cory looked up. A faint annoying ringing sound echoed near the lake.

"FIRE!!!!" Sonic yelled, startling us. He ran over to the school before any of us were even off the ground.

"Oh my god, Cory look!" I pointed at a small shaft of smoke rising up from the gym. Cory grabbed my hand, i grabbed Cream's, Cream grabbed Cosmo and we all raced over to where some of the students were assembled.

"All right. All right, we got the fire out." A cat firefighter walked out, signaling everyone it was all right to go back in.

-----------------------------Biology the next day, Cory's POV------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Okay, class, take these surveys to see how your chaos progress is coming along. By the end of the day, they should evolve." Mrs. Lion threw some papers on the desks and left. I grabbed some and handed two back to Cosmo and Cream. The four of us decided to take the surveys together. Sonic and Knuckles joined us, and Cream decided to give Cheese one of the surveys.

Question one: Name one quality your chao has. ("He's annoying, that's for sure.")

Question two: Name one quality you want your chao to have. ("Ability to fly and swim properly")

Question three: What type of chao will your's be? ("Hopefully Hero")

Question four: How does your chao act around other chaos? ("Like my brother")

Question five: How does your chao act around other people? ("Like Amy")

Question six: What experiences has your chao had so far? ("Stupid question, asking us after three days. Besides hatching, only almost drowning")

Question seven: How do you like your chao? ("Like the devil")

Question eight: How does your chao like you and your partner? ("Hopefully okay")

Question nine: If you could do one thing about your chao, what would it be? ("Make him less annoying")

Question ten: What are your chaos stats? ("Okay, i take it back. That's a stupid question. He's a weakling, can barely swim, flies easily, and eats.")

Rose looked over at my answers. "Oh, Cory!" She rolled her eyes at me. After both of us had finished, we put our answers in the website and waited for the results to print.

On an impulse I had no idea about, I said to her, "So instead of studying in my dorm, let's try some earth science at the lake."

"Sure, Cory. Oh, look, it says that me and Shadow are as tight as a rubber band!" Rose grabbed the sheet off the printer and hugged Shadow. Mine said that me and him are on a tense relationship right now.

----------------------------The lake, Amy's POV---------------------------------------------------

I flipped through my earth science book, looking for a fun activity. But before I saw one, I heard music and a familiar voice.

"Started out as enemies...", I walked a little closer. "Never got along. But I never saw the rose you are....Not till it was too late..."

"Cory?" I said faintly. I walked to the side of a tree. Sure enough, Cory was sitting next to the lake, playing on a guitar. I didn't even know he had a guitar...

"But now I see you, my rose, for the rose you are... A rose without thorns... You said you'd never love again.." Oh, I remembered how I had said so many times I would never love after I saw Sonic and Sally kissing at Christmas. But... "But if someone saw you, my rose, for the rose you are... A rose without thorns, my rose... If someone saw the rose you are, would you love again?..." Cory opened an eye and smiled at me. "Would you love me?..." I stepped out form the tree. Cory put down his guitar. "I meant that, Rose."

"I know..." I blushed, feeling tears gather in my eyes.

"Shadow always said you looked beautiful when you cried." Cor said as I sat down next to him.

"That's the first time I've heard you say Shadow's name." I said, surprised.

"I know." Cory closed the gap between us and kissed me.

-----------------------------The lake, two weeks later----------------------------------------

The news about me and Cory spread like wild fire. Rouge teased me about it nearly every time she saw us together, which was a lot. According to the preppies' couple review, we were the third cutest couple, below Sonic and Sally and Tails and Cosmo. But we disagreed on a lot of things. Such as where to go on the weekends. Most of the time I would drag him to the movies and we would watch a romance movie, Cory grumbling repeatedly about how it sucked. Sometimes he dragged me to a baseball game and I would spend the whole game texting. But our favorite place was the lake. I was going there before Cory to play with Shadow a little bit.

"Aaaaw, Shadow you look so cute!" I sighed at the little chao swimming in the lake. He rarely went far from me, even though the Bio project was over.

"I thought I'd find you here." A familiar voice said from the trees.

"Cory?" I asked, a little doubtfully. Cory was still at work and the voice sounded like Cory's, but not quite his.

"You'd spend hours here after we went to the cafe." Suddenly I knew who it was. I remembered the last time I had heard that voice.

FLASHBACK

"Sonic!" I had been chasing Sonic for an hour, and we had just come to Station Square. Just then, a whole bunch of Eggman robots had appeared. Sonic had rushed off the moment he had seen them. "Don't get hurt!"

"Amy, get back to your apartments." Shadow walked up beside me, looking at the robots. "This could get dangerous." Even then I had always had a little crush on him, but never really acknowledged it till he was gone...

"I'll take you to the cafe after me and the faker finish of those robots." Shadow smiled at me before racing after Sonic. Then he had died...

END OF FLASHBACK

"Shadow!" I rushed into his arms. He was still the same as I had last seen him. "What are you doing here, everyone thought you were dead!" He just smiled at me.

"Hey, Amy!" Another familiar voice said. Cory's. This could mean trouble, I thought. Even though I didn't know what had happened between Shadow and Cory, I knew they were'nt on speaking terms. "Hey Amy, look what I fou-" He walked into the clearing.


	5. Battles

----------------------------------Cory's POV-------------------------------------------------------------------------

When I had stepped into the clearing, I knew trouble was coming. My brother was standing next to the lake holding hands with Amy. "What are you doing here?" I glared at him. Even though I knew Amy and Shadow had been more than friends before he had idiotically died, that was no reason for him to be holding hands with her.

"I might ask you the same question." He said coolly.

"Did you really think I was going to stay in that place forever?" I challenged.

"Well, I always thought our older brother was a bit right, you never really had much potential for being a hero. But that doesn't stop you from getting an education." He replied. Amy blinked in surprise.

"Let's go Amy." I grabbed her hand and walked away. Amy looked back at the distant figure of Shadow, watching us.

-----------------------------------History next day, Amy's POV-----------------------------------------------------------------------

"Okay class, this is our new student, Shadow." This name said by our history teacher had a big effect on our table. Cory looked up, eyes cold, glaring at Shadow. Sonic turned around and smiled at him, apparently unfazed by the fact he wasn't dead. But that was Sonic. I tried to smile and waved him over. Cory glanced at me, but I ignored him. It was time he and Shadow got along.

"Shaddie!" Sonic smiled at him. "This is great! Our room has an extra bed, you can sleep there! It'll be like the old team's back, only Knux and Rouge have their own house in the hills..." Sonic trailed off, thinking of the fun they could have now that Shadow was back. Cory and Shadow continued a silent staring contest. I shifted uncomfortably and continued my assignment.

After class, I walked to my dorm alone. Cory had band practice with Sonic on Fridays, so I usually spent the day shopping with Rouge.

"Hey, Amy!" Shadow caught up with me. i smiled at him. "We never did get to go to that Italian cafe, did we?"

"No. You were too busy getting beat up by robots." I joked.

"So, what's stopping us from going now?" Shadow grabbed my hand and we ran down the stairs to his car. We laughed and remembered old times as he drove to A Taste Of Italy. Shadow bought a blueberry breadcake for the both of us, and as we ate it, we recounted past adventures. It was just like before.

Just as I was telling him about the time Cosmo accidentally ruined one of Tails' inventions when a huge blast destroyed half the cafe.

"Why hell are you two eating breadcake for when Coris is about to destroy the city?!" Cory landed in the rubble. Coris was Shadow and Cory's older evil brother. He was a bit like Bokkun's video mail, only more annoying and evil and he liked to blow Sonic up more.

"Cory get Amy back to her apartment!" Shadow yelled.

"You! It's my time to be the hero!" Cory replied.

"Did Coris blow out your brain cells or something?!" Shadow yelled.

"What the hell are you two doing?!" Sonic raced over to them.

"You've always been the hero, but it's my turn now!" Cory ignored Sonic.

"You two are fighting over who's gonna be my sidekick!" Sonic shook his head. "i'll take care of this. Lover boy, get Amy home." Sonic pushed Shadow toward me. "Lovebird, let's go!" Sonic looked over at Cory.

"Lovebird?" Cory said as he followed Sonic.

"Let's go!" Shadow grabbed me bridal style and raced away. In a few minutes, we were back at my dorm.

"Girl, what's going on?" Rouge said as I came in. Cream and Cosmo repeated the question.

"Watch first, questions later." Shadow turned on the TV. A channel showing Sonic, Cory, and Tails fighting a bunch of robots was on.

"OK, what does that have to do with anything?" Rouge asked.

BAAAM!

"Oh, great, just who I wanted to see." Shadow looked at the completely destroyed door. Out of the smoked stepped out none other than...Coris X. He looked just like Silver except for his red streaks.

"Little brother." X smiled evilly.

"Take this!" Shadow charged.

"Too late." X appeared behind me. "Good-bye." He disappeared, and me along with him.


	6. Ends

--------------------------------Cory's POV-------------------------------------------------------------------------

The second I heard X's name, I knew that he was going to use Amy to blackmail us for the chaos emeralds. "We have to stop him."  
I said. Everyone looked at me like I was crazy. Which I probably was. Last time we had tried to defeat X, it had taken nearly everyone. But we had only two of the Chaos Emeralds back then, and this time we had all of them.

"Shadow, we have to get Amy back." I turned to face my brother. He was leaning against a nearly destroyed wall, his eyes half closed. That was his thinking face.

"Cory, you know what he wants." He said finally.

"And?" I yelled. Everyone was taking this like it was nothing, but it wasn't! Amy was captured and unless we did something, who knew what X would do to her?

"We can't give up the Chaos Emeralds just to save Amy." He said tonelessly. That was always what got on my nerves. I couldn't imagine what Amy saw in him!

"Why can't we save her without the Emeralds?" I yelled. Even as I said it, i knew that it would be impossible. X was relentless, a thousand times more evil than Eggman. Mostly because his plans actually worked. And he was our brother, so he knew more about Sonic and Shadow and Silver and me than Eggman did. And he had much more access to technology than Eggman. X used to be a spy for G.U.N, and he still got money and tech from them every few years. It was amazing that people who thought that they were protecting each other were really delivering killing devices to their enemies!

"Shut up, Cory. I just got a plan." Shadow glared at me. He was still treating this like nothing, like that time he attacked those robots and died!

"What's the plan, Shads?" Sonic grinned. How like him, treating this just like a picnic. It amazed me that he ran in fear every time he saw X.

"When I came back, X made a big mistake. He tried to get my to work for him, which I pretended to do, but I was really learning the ways of his place. I know practically everything about it. Even where he keeps the prisoners which are surprisingly many. Turns out he jails those delivery G.U.N guys." Shadow smirked and continued with his plan. "So we'll enter through one of the back doors, go to the prisoner area, and rescue Amy."

"I have to admit, that's actually a good plan." Silver came up. "But if X's spies see us?"

"That's why I stole some of his invisibility spread." Shadow took out a small jar of nearly invisible dust.

"Let's go then!" Sonic grabbed the jar and threw some of the dust on himself. Just like the idiot he was.

---------------------------------------------X's Base, Amy's POV---------------------------------------------

"What are you going to do to me?" I asked. X was at his computer, which was unnecessarily large. He was looking into a large jewelery store that looked familiar, but I was too scared to remember where. I was sitting in a large see through metallic box sitting in a large tube. Great.

"Wait for my brothers to come and rescue you of course." He said tonelessly. His voice made me shiver, but it reminded me eerily of Shadow. i wondered if her would actually try to save me. I remembered all the times we sat in that cafe, talking about adventures and old stories. I remembered the time I had seen Sonic with Sally and I had cried for hours, and then Shadow came and took me to a park, and we walked all around and talked. He bought me an ice cream and we sat watching the stars appear. I had always saw him as a friend, but now I felt differently. It was too late now.

Just as I was thinking all of that, the wall nearest to us blasted apart. X didn't seem surprised though, and turned calmly to face...Cory! He was holding a Chaos Emerald in his hand, and his eyes were like orbs of fire, he was so angry. "Let...her...go." He said in a low ominous tone. It scared me almost as much as X's did. Behind him, Shadow appeared, also holding a Chaos Emerald.

"Welcome little brothers." X smiled at them. His eyes were cold, and his smirk was evil and vicious. I was surprised that Shadow and Cory didn't run screaming from the place like I felt I might do.

"X, let Amy go." Shadow glared at him.

"You know what i want." X said simply. Of course. The Chaos Emeralds.

"Amy." I heard someone whisper. "It's Tails, I'll free you don't worry." I looked over and saw Tails, holding a wrench and trying to unscrew the prison.

"Thanks Tails." I whispered back, turning back to Cory and Shadow. What i saw surprised me. Shadow, Cory, and X were all fighting over the two Chaos Emeralds. Cory pulled one of them away and immediately absorbed it. His red eyes flashed as he shot a flame at X, which he dodged. Shadow and X were still holding the other Emerald, which they both absorbed. It turned into a chaos fight, with Shadow throwing Chaos spears, Cory getting used to the new power, and X sending flames everywhere.

Finally, I heard a click, which meant Tails had succeeded. i crept out of the box and he lead me to a secret door. I looked back to see Cory in a fist fight with X. My heart jumped as X pushed him away and threw a Chaos Spear at him. it stabbed Cory in the heart. He turned his head a little and met my eyes. His red eyes looked pain stricken, the blood from the spear in his heart red as his eyes... I felt a tear drip onto the ground below me as I followed Tails.

Out in the bright light, I let my tears flow freely. Tails sat by awkwardly, patting me on the shoulder sometimes. I couldn't believe he was dead! Cory had given his life to save me... Shadow jumped down beside us and took one look at me. "I should have stopped him."

"No, Shadow." I wiped my tears and looked up at him. "You have to help Sonic stop X. You couldn't have died. I just... I wish..." I couldn't keep talking, because tears were running down my face so fast they were choking me.

"Come on." He took my hand and led me to tails' plane. Sonic and Silver came, with bruises and a few cuts. Seeing them hurt, all because of me, just made me cry even more. Everything was my fault... Shadow sat beside m and put his arm around me as we flew home. I cried nearly all the flight into him. He just sat by me, hugging me, letting me cry myself out.

As we landed, he took my hand again and led me home. I couldn't stop crying, I was so sad. "Amy..." he said as we walked into my house.

"Shadow, I'm so sorry for crying, and Cory, and... Just everything!" I sat on my couch and tried to stop crying.

"Amy...I'm sorry for taking you to the cafe. if I hadn't, you might not have gotten captured." Shadow sighed and sat beside me. I tried to tell him not to be silly, but I couldn't. i was till crying. Finally I got a hold of my self.

"Shadow, i'm sorry for not realizing how you felt." I leaned on him, wiping the last of my tears away.

"Me too." He sighed. He looked over at me and kissed me gently.

After that, me and Shadow lived together. We were always there for each other, but I never forgot Cory. Some times I woke up in the middle of the night, tears running down my face, Cory's dying face in my mind. Shadow always tried to cheer me up when that happened. Shadow told me that he was in a better place, and I believed him. It was a happily ever after.


End file.
